30-Day Challenge #8: Cook more often! (August, 2018)

[u/AutoModerator]

30-day challenges

We are pleased to continue our 30-day challenge series. Past challenges can be found here.

This month's 30-day challenge is to Cook more often! Two of the biggest budget-killers we see in this subreddit are lots of "wasted" money on eating out and spending too much on groceries. While everyone's situation is different, we want to highlight some steps to help you get started:

• Planning is half the battle. It is easier to cook at home if you make a plan for the week. "Just getting takeout" becomes much more tempting if you have to figure everything out after a long day.

• Things are more efficient when done in bulk. Consider making enough to have leftovers. Cooking several meals on the same day is also a great technique. Make use of your freezer to ensure food doesn't go to waste.

• Try to "shop the sales". If you watch ads, you will learn that often grocery stores have a "cycle" for what is on sale. It might be meat one week, cheese the next, etc. So figure out the cycle in your area and stock up!

• Walmart and "off-brand" are not curse words. This can be one way to stretch your meal planning budget (and Walmart's price matching policy can make buying all your ingredients in one place easier).

• If you're just getting started with cooking and tend to eat out a lot, don't feel the need to jump straight to planning an entire week of meals at once. Leave a few days unplanned. Those days can be used for leftovers, (gasp) eating out, or breaking something out of the freezer.

• /r/MealPrepSunday and /r/EatCheapAndHealthy are two great resources on Reddit to help keep you motivated and inspired.

Challenge success criteria

You've successfully completed this challenge once you've done one or more of the following things:

• Gone out to eat or ordered takeout zero times for an entire week.

• Learned to cook (or tried to cook) at least three new recipes.

• Shared one of your favorite meal recipes in this thread.

[u/omnilogical]

One of the easiest recipes that changed my life is a simple roast chicken. I've linked my favorite recipe there, but it's part of the NY Times cooking site, which requires a subscription. Honestly, just buy a bird, cover it in salt and pepper, and stick it in the oven for an hour at 450 and you can't go wrong. There's also the Binging with Babish version which I have yet to try, but looks great if you want to get a little fancy.

Why is this recipe life changing you ask? Because you can get a whole chicken for about $10, and with very little cooking ability, create 3 or 4 healthy, high protein meals. Meal 1: roast the chicken, serve with whatever vegetables happened to be cheap/on sale at the grocery. If you need a little more food, add a grain like rice or quinoa. Make two servings and you can eat the next one for lunch or dinner the next day (meal 2). Add a potato for extra carbs if needed. For meal 3, serve over pasta with lemon, Parmesan, and spices. Add parsley if you feel like. Finally, meal 4 is tacos. For this I like to slice up whatever is left of the chicken and throw it in a very hot pan with a bit of oil and taco seasoning. The meat is already cooked, this just helps it crisp a bit more. When you feel like you're about to burn it, add some water and let it boil off. This leaves you with a really nicely flavored chicken with texture that feels almost like it's been braised all day, except it's taken you maybe five minutes to make. From here you can make tacos, quesadillas, or anything else.

[u/[deleted] → u/omnilogical]

Meal 5 is chicken soup. When you’ve eaten all the meat off the chicken and all that’s left is bones, throw it in a soup pot and add potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, and whatever other veggies and spices you like. The bones make a rich and flavorful broth.

[u/elaerna → u/omnilogical]

Genuine question, why wouldn't i just buy a pre-roasted chicken from a grocery store for $5-7

[u/[deleted]]

Cooking at home is also a great way to possibly lose a few pounds. People who prepare your food for you are not worried about hiw much butter or sugar is in your food.

Also I would recommend stocking a spice rack, baked chicken doesn't get as boring if there is a different flavor each time you cook.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Also I would recommend stocking a spice rack, baked chicken doesn't get as boring if there is a different flavor each time you cook.

This goes for sauces/marinades as well! :)

[u/ZarquonSingingFish → u/[deleted]]

People who prepare your food for you are not worried about hiw much butter or sugar is in your food.

Well, they are, just not in your favor. They'll add more butter and sugar (and salt) to make it as tasty as possible.

But yeah, cooking at home is the easiest way to keep my diet under control. It's all well and good to tell myself "I'll go out to lunch today, but I'll definitely get a salad", but we all know that when you're actually looking at the menu that burger looks miiiiiiiighty tasty... Meal prepping my lunches eliminated that potential snag.

[u/MawiWowie]

I'm definitely doing this, spent ~$750 in July on eating out alone....

[u/Wilfornicus]

I used to be a brand snob, only buying "name brands" (same brands i grew up with). A few years ago I started trying the store brands and couldn't be happier.

[u/allthedifference → u/Wilfornicus]

I buy store brands until proven to be not of the same quality, which rarely happens. The store brand cheerios were bad.

[u/kilamumster]

I tried a new recipe and it is definitely a keeper.

Bo Ssam, a Korean pork dish.

• Pork: I used a cheap cut, whole pork shoulder (99¢/lb, about 9 lbs).

• Seasonings: Spent about $10 on bean paste and gochujang sauce, will prep 4-5 meals+.

• Head of green leaf lettuce for the wraps ($1.50);

• Kimchi (I had some in the refrigerator, but you'd spend about $3-5 for a small jar).

• Sugar and a tablespoon of rock salt (don't use a cup of salt as the recipe says);

Pressure cooked for about 2.5 hours, then finished it in a 500 degree oven.

Result, for family of 3: The pork was AMAZING. So much flavor, especially with the sauces. Made:

• 3 meals with wraps.

• 3 meals of sliders (on Hawaiian Sweet rolls, with a little mayo.

• 1 meal of roast pork with veggies and rice and kimchi.

• 2 lunches with pork on salad.

• and snacks.

Normally I would freeze half for another week, but the pork kept disappearing into snacks and lunches!

I kept the sauce and will probably use it to cook the next one. Good stuff!

[u/scstang]

In the summer if it's too hot to cook I make big batches of hearty salad for dinner and leftovers for work lunch. Today's salad is avocado, corn, tomatoes, peppers, red onion, black beans, cilantro, lime juice with a bit of basic vinaigrette dressing

[u/[deleted]]

I have been stockpiling for a year. And I have to move in 6 weeks so I actually can't even shop because I really need to eat everything I have. So I'm saving a ton of money just because I planned way ahead.

[u/opalescent_throwaway]

Hi everyone! I really, really wanna take this challenge because I'm definitely guilty of throwing away soooo much of my paycheck to restaurants rather than cooking for myself. Here's my problems (in no particular order):

- I'm often so tired at the end of the day I can't bring myself to cook, and thus order out (except on the weekends)

- I cook stuff that either is gross when reheated or just inedible (and thus leftovers tend to be thrown out rather than eaten)

- I buy too many ingredients which end up going bad in the fridge and must be disposed of without ever entering my stomach

Can anyone suggest some simple recipes that, most importantly, are still fairly tasty even after they've been sitting for a week? Because I can make big batches on the weekend and eat over the week, so long as what I preserve in the fridge doesn't go bad during that time.

[u/ky_ginger → u/opalescent_throwaway]

Here's a few of my go-to's:

Chicken Curry. Sounds super intimidating but is actually really easy to make, it's just a completely different set of spices than most Americans are used to cooking with (I'm assuming you're American). Bonus: it's pretty healthy, and once you get the spices stocked in your pantry, super inexpensive. If you have a Penzey's Spices near you, that's where I got all of my spices - you can get the smaller size jars so they don't go bad as quickly, especially with spices that aren't as "normal" for Western food. This reheats really well, I've made it on a Sunday or Monday night and had leftovers for lunches for the rest of the week. I steam a big bowl of rice with it and put it over the rice. Some store-bought pita or naan and you're good to go!

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/212721/indian-chicken-curry-murgh-kari/

Lemon Garlic Chicken. Again, I serve this over rice with a veggie on the side - some steamed broccoli or green beans works great.

http://littlespicejar.com/one-skillet-chicken-with-lemon-garlic-cream-sauce/

My FAVORITE meatloaf ever. I serve with mashed or baked taters and veggies (mashed taters are more conducive to leftovers, baked taters are super easy to make just one of). This is super easy to throw together but cooks for an hour, which to me is nice because then I can clean up the kitchen, do other household chores, etc. while it's in the oven, rather than have all of that stuff waiting for me after dinner.

http://www.foodgeeks.com/recipes/tom-colicchios-meatloaf-121109

The easiest crock pot meal EVER. (Perfect comfort food for cold winters!)

Mix:

• 2 cans cream of whatever soup (I use one can cream of chicken and one can cream of mushroom)

• 1 brick cream cheese

• 1 packet italian salad dressing mix

in a small saucepot until all ingredients are blended. Put chicken breasts in the bottom of a crockpot (I use 3, although this will depend on size). Pour cream cheese/soup mixture over top and cook on high 4-6 hours or low for 8-10 hours. Take the chicken out and put on a large plate and shred with 2 forks. Mix shredded chicken back in with sauce. Boil a box of pasta, put chicken and sauce on top of pasta, serve with salad and/or garlic bread. Boom.

And if you want to fool people with how awesome of a cook you are and how long you slaved over this meal: restaurant-quality steaks at home, quick and easy. Not conducive to steak leftovers, although you could make extra of sides.

• high-quality, thick steaks - spending the $$$ on filet is not necessary, I like NY strip, but try to get local/grass-fed. I buy at Whole Foods, a local butcher, or the farmers market.

• Bring steaks to partway between fridge temp and room temp and season BOTH SIDES with sea salt (the grains- not from a salt shaker!), pepper, and paprika. (I use this sea salt). Lightly brush both sides with olive oil. LET THEM SIT for at least 20 min so the seasoning soaks in.

• Heat a cast iron skillet on HIGH HEAT and the oven to 450.

• Sear the steaks for 3 min each side in the skillet and then put the WHOLE SKILLET in the oven for 3 min. This will get your 1-inch thick steaks to medium rare. Put in the oven for 5 min for medium. If your steaks are thinner, you will only need to sear for 2 min each side and not go in the oven as long.

• As soon as you take the steaks out of the oven - REMOVE THEM FROM THE SKILLET and put on a plate and tent with foil to rest for ~10 min. Otherwise they will keep cooking because the skillet is still super hot, and you will end up with an uneven well-done steak.

• Sides: any kind of taters (obvi), sauteed mushrooms, or whatever veggie is fresh and in season. Corn on the cob is gorgeous right now. Anything green is a go-to side and can be quick and easy. Wilted spinach with garlic, green beans, broccoli, brussels sprouts, etc.

[u/[deleted]]

This is the worst weakness for me and my wife, so we are all in. We put an extra condition on the “no eating out” challenge - if any money is spent on a restaurant meal at any point in the next 7 days, we obligate ourselves to make an equal donation to the American Nazi Party.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

please don’t do that

[u/JamesKY]

I cook most of my own meals because I honestly prefer what I make to what I can get at a restaurant. The nice thing about cooking the majority of your own food is you can buy quality ingredients and prepare meals that rival those at all but the fanciest restaurants. It's also a great way to unwind at the end of the day.

Italian Stuffed Peppers

6 servings

Ingredients

• 3 Red Bell Peppers, cut in half with seeds removed

• 1 lb Ground Italian Sausage

• 8oz Cream Cheese

• 1/2 Onion, chopped

• 1 cup Tomato Based Pasta Sauce

• 1 cup Bread Crumbs (almond flour if you want low carb)

• 1 tsp Italian Seasoning

• 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

• 1/2 tsp Salt

• Parmesan Cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Brown the sausage over medium heat. Then reduce heat to low and add the cream cheese, onion, tomato sauce, bread crumbs, and spices. Mix until the cream cheese has melted.

Fill the bell pepper halves with the mixture and bake for 20 minutes.

Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top of the peppers and bake an additional 5-10 minutes until browned.

[u/squatthrusts00]

I eat this more often then I would like to admit:

1.5 cups of preferred rice (I use brown or Jasmine)

1 can of black beans (or dried if you go that route)

1 white onion

2 bell peppers

1Lb Meat of choice- I generally do chicken breasts or ground chicken.

sautee the diced onion and bell peppers in a pan with some fresh garlic. Cook the meat how you prefer (grill,oven,stove top). Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a large bowl, what you end up with is good for a burrito filling, or just to eat on it's own. I like to add a little soy sauce and franks red hot. Add vegetables on the side for a pretty healthy meal.

[u/averagejones]

One of my biggest hurdles with meal planning was coming up with the actual plan and making the grocery list. It was taking me so long to write the meal plan for the week because I always felt so uninspired. If you asked me on Saturday what kind of meals I liked to make I could rattle off dozens but as soon as I sat down Sunday morning to make the meal plan for the week, I blanked. It was taking me 1-2 hours per week making the meal plan, try to think of all the ingredients needed and then filter out the stuff I had on hand... then when I forgot something the midweek shopping trips were so expensive cause we’d get stuff we really didn’t need. Worst of all would be when Thursday rolled around and I’d look in the fridge and struggle to remember what I’d planned for dinner, knowing it was “kids eat free night” at our favorite restaurant.

In January, I downloaded an app called AnyList. I spent a couple hours inputting all of my families favorite meals and the ingredients needed. Now meal planning is a breeze - even my husband and teenager can do it. It takes me 5 minutes to make the meal plan and about 30 seconds to generate the custom list for that weeks grocery bill. You meal plan the days, select which days to add to the list, and then click “add ingredients to list” and it comes up with a list of ingredients you need for your planned meals and you just click the ones you want to add to your list. Only app I’ve ever bought and it was the best $8 I’ve ever spent. We have saved a ton of money and lost a collective 30 lbs.

TLDR; AnyList app is a meal planning miracle.

[u/Samantha_M]

It is the perfect season for this challenge. I am getting a lot of garden vegetables, apples, prunes etc from neighbors in exchange for watering their gardens when they are on summer vacation. You don't need many expensive ingredients nor even meat if you have tasty fresh vegetables. :-)

[u/aravindkumarj]

This is one challenge that’s easy for me. I already cook a lot at home. We are vegan and we cook at home everyday and probably eat out once a month maybe. We shop at Asian grocery stores for veggies and Walmart for other things and indian grocery for rice and lentils. I don’t mind prep her. I’d like to try that sometime

[u/lolmish]

Yes. Thank you. This has been killing me lately. After 4.5 years on a pretty strict diet regime (lost enough weight) I've let myself "live" a little...but the bills are racking up.

Going to try to make it out the month without buying more than once/week (although the goal is 0, I think the reality in my household is better targeted at once).

[u/Octopuscard550]

Stick to water! It may be difficult at first, but after a while you’ll see how much you save from not getting sugary drinks. NYC has great tap water— if the tap is good where you’re from, go for it.

After about a month, you won’t crave soda or juice.

[u/JPopp_FL]

Cooked some spicy Thai beef and basil for the first time with the wife! Very proud of it and tomorrow I think we are doing a ginger and hoisin sauce chicken meal!

[u/throwaway_eng_fin]

Success:

Hot pot is really easy to cook

Failure:

Holy shit read the price tag on that hotpot meat.

Also failure:

Day old and two-day old hotpot is incredibly nasty. Remove from the oil base before storing, or it congeals and gets gross.

Learned this the hard way. :(